The Lightning and Filppula agreed to terms on a five-year, $25-million contract Friday afternoon, giving the team a skilled player to center its second line behind Steven Stamkos.

Tampa Bay general manager Steve Yzerman certainly has a great knowledge of Filppula's game given the time he spent in Detroit's front office over the years. Filppula spent seven full seasons in Detroit.

It's a pretty big investment for the Lightning, and his performance over the years doesn't really seem to be that of a $5-million per year player. He's very good, and responsible in all areas of the ice, but that's still a lot. Such is life in NHL free agency, especially when the crop of players available isn't that great to begin with and other teams are blindly throwing around money.

Filppula is one year removed from his best season in the NHL when he scored 23 goals to go with 43 assists in 81 games. He followed that up this past season with nine goals and eight assists in 41 games.

Adam Gretz has been writing about the NHL and taking an analytical approach to the game since the start of the 2008 season. A member of the PHWA since 2015, he has spent more than three years covering...
Full Bio